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The Big Brother Elite are continuing to strengthen their hold by centralising ever more power in the hands of the few and away from the people. It is said 75% of the laws in Europe are now made by the EU rather than the nation states - and most people know that the EU is by design undemocratic. Ever more EU law has to be complied with in even the most basic walks of life, turning every act into a bureaucratic nightmare. What Big Brother doesn't like is independent, free individuals and groups who can look after themselves, think for themselves and who are brave enough to act on their own knowledge. That's why they will, in the name of protecting the population, make it ever more difficult for you to own your own land, have animals, grow food, supply your own water and sell what you don't need yourself to your local community. You will only be allowed to sell or even give away any food if you comply with tight regulations, such as having all your animals tagged and making it possible to track all the food you produce. If all else fails, another "outbreak" of whatever virus will be used as excuse to slaughter all you animals in order to "contain" the epidemic.
If you have land on which you hunt deer, you can eat your own meet and currently it is ok to supply your direct family who live there with you. But as soon as you want to give venison away for free to your wider family or friends, you are bound by hygiene laws and need a temperature controlled larder.
As usual these laws "to protect us" are easy to comply with if you are a large company but not if you are a smallholder.

The sad thing is, it is exactly here where the future lies: a decentralised economy/society. If the countryside was full of smallholdings, producing most of their own food and co-operating with the local community for everything else, without centralised control, what would happen? Fewer food miles, direct relationship between producer and consumer, much less need for packaging, less power to companies such as the big supermarkets, the list goes on. Small-scale farming is what permaculture is designed for. It stands for permanent culture and offers an approach of observing natural ecosystems and then designing a system which is neither reliant on oil, chemicals and machinery, nor a return to drudgery. A smallholding is a lot more productive than a large farm due to the attention and design that can go into it. This is despite the machinery and chemicals used in conventional farming. Also, compare a field of wheat with a forest garden, where trees, smaller fruit trees, fruit bushes, vegetables, herbs etc all occupy the same space, but using vertical space as well. Not only do you get a lot more produce, but the different plants help each other. Some deter pests. Some bring up nutrients from deep down. Leaves fall and rot right where the leave mulch is wanted. Fruits fall and plants decay right where the nutrients can be recycled. Birds live in the trees right where the phosphate from their droppings is wanted. And best of all, woodland is the natural landscape of most temperate countries. If you left the place alone, it would turn into woodland. So nature wants to grow trees and instead of fighting nature, you work with it.

Permaculture is about more than gardening, however. It is also about knowing all the environmental factors of your land, the major wind directions, the angle of the sun throughout the seasons, and designing your plot accordingly. It is about designing your water supply in a way that makes use of gravity. It is about having work-intensive plants close to your house and less needy ones further away, about having your living space face south and your storage space north (if you are building a house), about using local materials and resources, about plant species and animal breeds that are suitable for the area and that are bred for being hardy rather than for unnatural productivity and prone to illness, about reusing old things instead of throw-away society, and, really, you can apply it to any area of life that you wish. It isn't anti progress or anti technology but pro sustainability and pro responsibility.

The excellent BBC programme A Farm for the Future is a good start if I have woken your interest. http://www.blinkx.com/video/a-farm-for-the-future-01/3PoPI8VF5JiuIM5Eig_mCA